An abandoned vehicle backed into a mail box early Oct. 27 resulted in a Milford man being arrested for third-offense drunken driving.

Just before 3 a.m., an officer came upon the SUV in the 1800 block of South Milford Road. The officer initially reported he was stopping to assist a motorist, but found the vehicle was unoccupied, backed into the mailbox and sticking out into the roadway.

Another officer was attempting to locate the vehicle driver – the registered owner listed at an address on Atlantic in Milford. The officer located the man walking east on Huron, wearing a backpack.

The man kept walking when the officer pulled up, but eventually stopped after the officer called him by name. The man, 43, told the officer he had car trouble and called a tow company, but decided to walk home after being told the wait would be 2½ hours.

The officer noted the man had glassy eyes and smelled of alcohol, though he denied he had been drinking.

The man also denied having struck the mailbox and leaving his vehicle in the roadway causing a hazard. Questioned further, the man told police that he hadn’t been drinking and again denied he had been driving his vehicle.